Heineken to assume control of Tiger Beer producer Asia Pacific Breweries for $4 billion.

NASA sees $2.5 billion Mars Rover "Curiosity" successfully land, Twitter explodes.

Unilever sets sights on overtaking Skinny Cow with Magnum brand.

London 2012 Olympics boosts personal brands of Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Michael Phelps, Gabby Douglas, and Andy Murray. 

Abercrombie & Fitch leads brands entering India via web partnerships.

Apple iPad grabs 68% of global tablet sales.

Applebee's woos late-night diners.

AT&T plans to phase out 2G networks.Continue reading...

Conde Nast's Social Sidekick got off to an iffy start this week when Business Insider dismissed it as a "non-starter."

"It's a nice little feature - one that will increase engagement a bit and allow advertisers some flexibility - but is it really changing anything? Nope."

Kicking the tires on the digital sidecar to Conde Nast's vast array of content, Gucci is the exclusive launch advertiser for Social Sidekick through the end of October.Continue reading...

It makes sense that Lucky magazine, Conde Nast's original "magalog" (magazine meets catalog) would try to redefine shopping for the social age. A new deal with ThisNext.com partners the fashion-based magazine in a co-branded website which Matt Edelman, ThisNext’s CEO, promises will set the bar for social shopping.

Content from Lucky’s editors will give style-conscious shoppers a personal touch in the new site, which aggregates fashion, home & design, beauty, and kids products in one place for social interaction and savvy shopping.Continue reading...

Swipe your smartphone across the 2D bar code on a box of Special K cereal in the US, and you may be surprised to see Lucky magazine editor-at-large Elise Loehnen pop up in a video with tips about finding figure-flattering jeans. It’s a, well, fitting and organic partnership from the cereal whose mantra is how to feel better in your jeans, and a magazine featuring the latest jeans and other styles.Continue reading...

Zappos.com, the formidable online brand recently acquired by Amazon, is moving into the print magazine category.

That’s right: print.

The e-shop plans to mail 750,000 copies of its printed catalog named “Zappos Life” directly to consumers, and the publication is scheduled to arrive in time for the holiday shopping blitz.

The catalog will have a fashion and design focus, highlighting products such as handbags, jewelry, clothing, and fragrances in addition to Zappos’ most notable product: footwear. Among the featured brands are Cole Haan, Guess, Calvin Klein, Lucky, Stila, True Religion, and Stuart Weitzman.

But why the move to print?Continue reading...

Conde Nast Publications announced this morning that it is shuttering four magazines, following a widely publicized review by McKinsey and Company. Food bible Gourmet will shut down, Brides will increase to monthly publication but Modern Bride and Elegant Bride will close, as will family lifestyle magazine Cookie.

The changes show resolve by Conde Nast to eliminate redundant brands -- an opposite strategy than earlier in the decade, when the company was happy to boast food titles Gourmet and Bon Appetit, men's mags GQ, Details, Cargo, Vitals, and Men's Vogue, home titles House & Garden, Architectural Digest, Domino and occasionally Vogue Living, and numerous women's books including Vogue, Glamour, Self, Jane and Allure. In those days, the company's direction was to block competition and nail down every available ad dollar in a given category.

Now, the company has reversed course. Cargo, Vitals, and Domino (all clones, to some extent, of Conde's successful shopping magazine Lucky), Jane and House & Garden are gone, and Men's Vogue has been folded into Vogue as a twice-annual supplement.Continue reading...